OUR TEAM
Smartt Strategies uses the Belbin Team Roles methodology to help businesses and organizations achieve better results. Though based in the Washington, D.C. Metro area, Smartt Strategies has a network of in-house and independent Belbin trainers and consultants throughout the United States. In addition, Smartt Strategies has access to a global network of Belbin trainers who can work with organizations with overseas operations, providing the Belbin experience in a number of languages.
DeeDee Smartt Lynch / President & Chief Resource Investigator
DeeDee Smartt Lynch, has been helping organizations build stronger, better teams for the past 10 years. She developed her passion for the Belbin philosophy while living in the United Kingdom. DeeDee became a certified Belbin trainer through Belbin Associates, headquartered in Cambridge, England.
In 2009, she returned to the United States, and began advocating for the Belbin Team Roles philosophy throughout North America, where she has trained hundreds of people who work for multinational corporations, small businesses, nonprofits and government agencies, including: Eli Lilly, Xerox, Trimble, Gallo Wine, Marriott, Naval Air Systems Command, U.S. Marines Corps Systems Command, the World Bank, the United Nations, MITRE, J.P. Morgan Chase, Positive Approach to Teen Health, Mercy Health Clinic and the Pew Charitable Trusts.
DeeDee is a Texas native, a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, and has worked in economic development, marketing, event management and in state government.
Mike Lynch / Project Manager & Chief Shaper
Mike has been a design engineer and project manager in the nuclear industry for 40 years. He first encountered Belbin Team Roles during the early years of his project management career. “I took the course and thought that the ideas were interesting and spoke to some of the issues that I had indeed encountered. Really, though, the concept was put on the back burner, because, ‘Hey! I had a project to run.’ “But I was faced with some team issues that I recognized had been illuminated during the Belbin training, so I decided to use Belbin to help solve the team issues. I had the team all carry out a self-perception Belbin test, and I constructed a team map from this information. The results of the analysis and mapping helped me to restructure the team into a positive, well-performing team."
Mike Lynch is British and has worked in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, France and the Unites States. He graduated from the University of Liverpool with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics, and earned a Master of Science in Engineering Project Management from Lancaster University. He is a Chartered Engineer with the Engineering Council in the United Kingdom and a corporate member of the Institute of Electrical Technology.
Elizabeth Meyer / Consultant & Chief Coordinator
Elizabeth Meyer is an accomplished CPG Executive with Entrepreneurial Start-Up and High-Growth dot.com experience. She is a dynamic people leader with the ability to identify and lead transformational change. Her breadth of experience includes: General Management, Organizational Development and Strategy, Operations, Recruiting and Leading Top Talent, Vendor Management, Sales, Lean Six Sigma and Financial Analysis.
Elizabeth was the Vice President of Operations and Finance at Nakedwines.com, which is the largest Direct to Consumer Winery in the USA. At Nakedwines.com, she led a 60-person organization, was an Executive Officer in the US company and on Nakedwines.com’s Global Leadership Team. During her time at Nakedwines.com, she transformed the US Operations by determining the strategic vision, organizational structure, and led all senior position recruiting. While at Nakedwines.com, Elizabeth improved company culture and team interaction by introducing and championing use of the Belbin Team Framework. Elizabeth’s business minded goal was to go beyond the theory of Belbin and focus on the application to achieve superior innovation, business results and team performance.
Earlier in Elizabeth’s career she was at E. & J. Gallo in various positions of leadership. It was at E. & J. Gallo where she was introduced to the power of Belbin Team Training, Strategic Planning Tools and Lean Six Sigma concepts that she has applied throughout her career. Elizabeth Meyer holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from University of Kansas, MBA from the University of California at Berkeley and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
Cody Clemens M.A. / Consultant & Resource Investigator/Specialist
Cody strives to help organizations understand how they can better promote and encourage well-being in the workplace, as well as strengthen team culture and development.
In November 2014, Cody became a certified Belbin trainer with hopes to help teams achieve success.
Formerly, Cody worked for Target Corp., where he was an Executive Team Leader of Logistics in Pittsburgh. He assisted in managing a team composed of 158 employees in a store that produced $42 million in annual revenue, and he was responsible for overseeing the entire logistics process. Cody has also worked with Marietta Memorial Hospital, Marietta College Career Center, Marietta College Alumni Relations, Duquesne University, Bowling Green State University, and he has consulted with Ohio State University’s Morgan County Extension Office.
Cody earned his Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communication/Public Relations from Marietta College, his Master of Arts in Corporate Communication from Duquesne University, and he is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in Health Communication from Bowling Green State University.
Shawn Selby / Director of Operations & Chief Monitor Evaluator
Shawn’s main role at Smartt Strategies is to oversee the various Belbin Reports for clients and to handle much of the behind-the-scenes operations that take place to make everyone else look good. He is the man behind the curtain. And if you would be so kind as to shut the curtain, he’d like to get back to work now.
In his other life, he is a veteran journalist, having honed his Implementer and Completer Finisher skills as an editor at The Washington Post, USA Today and Crain’s Detroit Business in the United States, and at Crain’s Manchester Business in the United Kingdom.
Shawn graduated from Marietta College with a degree in journalism and political science, and he earned a certificate in leadership studies.